Nakba Pilgrimage
Nakba Pilgrimage
Like so many other people, I am heartbroken at the suffering of the Palestinian people, and I wanted to do something - even if very small - to help them. I love walking and I have completed sponsored walks for other charities previously, but now that I am nearly 70 and my joints are a bit stiff and sore, I wondered if I could still help. But I like a challenge, and I think that over a month even someone like me should be able to manage the 107km distance... So I am striding for Palestinians in aid of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).
Starting on Nakba Day, I will be completing 107km in one month and virtually covering the distance from Occupied East Jerusalem to Gaza.
Please donate to my page and help me support MAP as they remain for the Palestinian people - no matter what.
You can track my progress via the map on my page. I will add updates as the journey progresses and keep you up to date with the distances each day. Thank you! Let's show the Palestinians that they are loved and supported by doing this together! Love from Anne x
Click here to donate to Anne's fundraising page at Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Day 16 - 30th May - Gaza
Day 16: Gaza
Today I completed my walk and reached Gaza. And I almost feel sad that it’s over.
This evening I was able to attend a MAP Palestinian meal in Castle Douglas, which has been an amazing finish to my walk, but also the start of a new understanding of the real situation NOW in Gaza.
We have absolutely NO IDEA of the extent of devastation, suffering and false information that masks the real situation in Palestine.
This will not be my last act of witness for Palestine. Thank you for all your support. Love
Anne Dobbing
Day 15 - 29th May - Raiders and ‘Settlers’
Today I walked twice: I was so eager to cross the 100km mark! When I looked at the little orange person on the map that is me, I saw that I am now inside Gaza. Doing this walk every day and following the places on the map has been amazing.
I would really like to visit Palestine and help the people there. Maybe teaching again.
BBC news reports today that ‘settlers’ have been allowed to build 22 new settlements in the West Bank. Their actions in driving Palestinians out of their homes and bulldozing houses remind me more of the violent Reivers, who terrorised Galloway and other border areas between England and Scotland from the 13th to 17th centuries, rather than peaceful settlers…
Day 14 - 28th May - Animals and War
Clara has many friends who we sometimes meet as we walk through the forest, including Elf the Lurcher, Murphy the elderly black Lab and Bailey the Boxer dog.
We also greet Simon and Davina every day, the two hungry sheep who demand carrots and dandelions from all passers by.
I wonder what has happened to all the pets in Gaza over the last few years? Thank goodness for rescue organisations like Four Paws who have re homed many of the animals from the Zoo in Rafah.
May humanity come to its senses and end this war soon. For everyone’s sake…
Day 13 - 27th May - Another precious child lost
Another precious child lost to the war in Gaza. 11 years old, Yaqeen Hammad spent her days trying to lift the spirits of other children in Gaza and with her older brother Mohammed taking food, toys and clothing to other children.
She made videos on Instagram and wrote, “I try to bring a bit of joy to the other children so that they can forget the war.” Yaqeen was killed on Friday when an air strike hit her family’s house. Brutal.
As I walk the last kilometres of my journey to Gaza, I feel as if the people there are my friends and companions and I mourn for the destruction they face.
Day 12 - 26th May - 'Situation is dire' - BBC returns to Gaza baby left hungry by Israeli blockade
Everything out in the garden and forest is looking fresh, moist, juicy and green. It’s a relief after weeks of shrivelled looking foliage.
But today in BBC news I read about Siwar Ashour, the frail little baby girl, who has a severe allergy to milk, who has been discharged from hospital to ‘home’ - a broken, makeshift shack in Khan Younis- where flies buzz around her face as she stares weakly at observers.
She is starving from lack of the special formula that she needs. She weighs one third of the weight she should be at 5 months of age. She weighs 2 kg, when she should now by 6kg.
No child should have such an expression of fear in their eyes.
Day 11 - 25th May - Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra and 16,500 more
Clara helped me walk today, once again along the B7000 and through the forest. But my mind has been full of Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra , the nine children of two paediatricians in Gaza who were killed yesterday by air strikes, and the other estimated 16,500 children who have been killed in Gaza over the last 2 years. And of course Dr Alaa and her critically injured husband and surviving son, Adam. Read the harrowing story on the BBC News website - (BBC News 25/05/25)
War is catastrophic for children and rips apart the Rights of the Child, as defined by the United Nations. Please click the image above or click here to view and download a simplified version of the UN Convention on the rights of the Child.
Day 10 - 24th May - Doctor Alaa al-Najjar
Today I walked through the forest again with Clara, this time in the welcome gentle rain that ended our weeks of drought.
Then at home I checked the RTE news and froze with horror. An Israeli air strike has hit the home of Dr Alla al-Najjar and killed nine of her 10 children. Her husband is in a critical state.
News confirmed by Dr Victoria Rose of Nasser Hospital. Israeli military said it had ‘struck a number of suspects’.
Day 9 - 23rd May - Famine in Gaza and appeal to the Foreign Secretary
Today I did a shorter walk once again with Clara in the forest, after my long walk yesterday when she couldn’t join me - it was too far for her to walk and too hot with her fur coat…
I responded to an appeal from Embrace the Middle East to join a Friday Fast for Gaza and to write to David Lammy to ask him to work harder to lift the blockade of food and medicine for Gaza. There is a letter template on the Embrace website. I keep thinking of the advice I received ages ago from a friend, that:
No one can do everything
But everyone can do something
And the difference between nothing and something
Is everything…
Follow this link for a letter template...
Day 8 - 22nd May - B7000 road and Fr Gabriel Romanelli in Gaza
Today I walked from St John’s Town of Dalry to my home along the B7000 road, surrounded by hawthorn trees in bloom in bright sunshine and wonderful views of the Galloway hills. But my thoughts were in Gaza with Fr Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of Gaza, whom Pope Francis phoned every evening, and his parishioners, after reading an interview he gave to Vatican News.
“More than the lack of food, clean water, and medicine, more than the threat to our safety, what worries me most is that hope might be lost,” Fr. Romanelli explained.
Since people in the Gaza Strip are not being “treated as human beings with rights but as objects,” he said, “hope is fading.”
Day 7 - 21st May
Today I walked through Dumfries, visiting Dumfries and Galloway multicultural association, where I volunteer, as well as doing my usual forest walk in the morning. This has given my distances a boost today!
In Gaza I read a report about the work of Dr Victoria Rose, who is a plastic surgeon working in the Nasser Hospital in Southern Gaza. She spoke of the level of malnutrition in Gaza being comparable to that of the Ethiopian famine. The children are just ‘skin and bone’ she said and explained how this prevents wound healing, makes their wounds, caused by blasts and trauma, more liable to sepsis. They desperately need vitamins and nourishing food. Medical and food Aid desperately needed, but still not reaching the children who need it.
Day 6 - 20th May
Two messages today from Palestine/Israel today
1. RTE news, the Irish broadcaster. In an interview with Olga Chèrevko, a spokesperson for UN OCHA, speaking from Dear al-Balah in central Gaza, who said the education system in Gaza has collapsed and that UN workers are trying to offer some form of schooling to displaced children. “They have been deprived of every shred of childhood.”
She remembered a girl she met in a shelter, “she told me her favourite thing used to be waking up for school and going to class, dreaming of becoming an artist. The only thing she’s left to do now is try not to get killed - and wake up every morning to join the queue for water and food.”
2. Embrace The Middle East, a charity who faithfully support work for peace in many places in the Middle East. They relayed a call from Christians in Jerusalem to spend a day TOMORROW (Wednesday 21st May) in prayer and fasting.I will be joining the day of action and I am sure many other people will too. Thanks for all your support.
Day 5 - 19th May
Today I walked twice, morning and afternoon, and tried a new circular walk that Peter showed me round the Royal Borough of New Galloway.
Beautiful scent of Hawthorn in full bloom and wonderful views of the Rhinns of Kells, the hills that surround us here.
In Gaza the contrast could be more stark. An evacuation order has been issued for Palestinians in Khan Younis and Israel has said it will start an ‘unprecedented attack’ there.
Meanwhile after no deliveries of food or aid since 2nd March, after a blockade of Gaza was imposed, there was an announcement that a ‘minimal’ amount of food would be allowed entry into Gaza.
But also over the past day 160 targets have been attacked and at least 20 people killed. A total of 53,475 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
Day 4 - 18th May
8:10 am I am just about to set out into the forest again for today’s walk. I will probably only do one section again today as I have online English language lessons as well today. The midges are out in force here in SW Scotland - finding any tiny area of exposed skin, and swarming it like tiny acupuncture needles.
Today in Gaza the news is shocking. Famine. No supplies of food, water or medical aid allowed to enter and children are starving. At least 140 people were killed in bombing raids over the last couple of days. And yet life carries on elsewhere. The Eurovision Song Contest took place last night in Switzerland as usual. But I am afraid I didn’t watch this year. I am not against music and celebrations, but I refuse to carry on as if Naqba has ended - It hasn’t.
Several more people have promised to donate to MAP when they return from holiday - I am deeply grateful for ALL your support.
My t-shirt arrived yesterday, so I have an official MAP logo to wear today instead of my home made banner!
Day 3 - 17th May
Sitting in my kitchen, just before I set out walking with Clara, I read this today in BBC news about Ismail, aged 6 who joined a queue for food and was given a bowl of lentils, only for it to be knocked out of his hands as he walked back to his home.
I also read about hospitals running out of even basic supplies like gauze and bandages and women running out of nappies for their babies.
We shouldn’t have to be walking to provide food or basic medical supplies to Palestine. Surely humanitarian assistance shouldn’t depend on charity.
But this is reality of a world that celebrates Celebrity, Image and Appearance, but which ‘walks by on the other side’ when little children are crying and hungry.
You can follow my progress on my Medical Aid for Palestine Walk Page - I'm the little orange figure you can see, heading towards Hebron.
Day 2 - 16th May
Another walking day with Clara and this evening Peter came too! It has been a hot day here and I went out at 8am before the day became too hot for Clara. Then we waited till after 6pm to do the second part of the walk, again so that Clara would walk comfortably.
15th May Nakba Day - The Day of Catastrophe
5:36 am. Today as I nervously prepare for day 1 of my walk, I am trying to imagine what it would be like to wake up to the sound of soldiers shouting to get out and bulldozers demolishing villages of homes.
In 1948, on and after 15th May, 500 villages were destroyed and 750,000 Arab Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homes. Thousands of Palestinians were killed in massacres and village wells were poisoned so that people could not return home. Palestinians became stateless people with 80% of the 13 million Palestinian population forced to live outside the land that had been designated Mandatory Palestine.
As if all this is not enough suffering to inflict on an entire nation, now the Israeli army is bombing hospitals and schools, where Palestinian families are seeking refuge. That is why I am walking today.